The Dubbo Rams need to take more control over the tempo of their games if they hope to turn their season around.
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That was the word from American import Charles Baines as he prepares for the road trip to the nation's capital to face the Canberra Gunners Academy in Saturday's round seven of the Waratah State League Division 1 Men's competition.
The Rams are yet to win a game in 2019, and Baines acknowledged the clash with the fifth-placed Gunners would be a "tough challenge".
"We just have to actually play together and actually Canberra is a team that likes to push the tempo of the game so we cannot allow them to go on multiple runs," he said.
"This is a team that likes to pressure the ball so we must take care of the ball.
"Moving the ball around to find the open person and slowing the tempo down when we need, but also knowing when to push the tempo.
"We can't play their game. We have to play ours."
Just nine Rams will travel down for Saturday's game at Belconnen Basketball Stadium.
And to make matters worse, the Rams will be without star centre Rob Dewar who's averaging about 25 points per game.
While admitting they were large shoes to fill - literally and figuratively - Baines was confident Nick Conte at centre and "play his game".
"That's all we need him to do, just play his game and the rest will take care of itself," Baines said.
"And rebound the ball, take care of the ball.
"We're going to have to put up a good amount of shots to give ourselves a chance."
While they're yet to win a game after six rounds of the WSL, the Rams have shown they can compete with the competition's best in patches.
Against the top-placed Sutherland Sharks back in round four, a 24-4 opening four minutes cost the Rams dearly as they went on to lose by just 26 points.
And aside from a 121-39 mauling by the Shoalhaven Tigers on the road in round three, they've averaged 60 points a game, and been competitive against a number of the league's heavyweights.
Baines was confident in the Rams' defence, and optimistic they would continue to improve with the ball in hand.
"Lately defence is where we've been playing a lot better, not allowing teams to go on a lot of runs and stopping teams when we need to get stops," he said.
"But also just now getting more efficient on offence, making better decisions and taking care of the ball and when we get steals, being able to capitalise on that.
"The vibe [around the squad] is ... we'll give it everything this weekend and we're seeing improvement on the defensive side but now we just need improvement altogether.
"It's progress but sometimes you need to take what is given to you and move accordingly."
The game tips off at Belconnen Basketball Stadium at 6pm on Saturday.
